Facebook’s been on a bit of a buying spree this year. Of course we all know about the $1 billion Instagram deal. Then there was the Acrylic buyout. And now the word is that it’s in talks to acquire WhatsApp, the popular cross-platform messaging service that allows users to send and receive text, video and audio messages…

“Whatsapp, the multiplatform mobile messaging app that has been one of the runaway success stories for ad-free, paid services, has been in talks to be acquired by Facebook, according to sources close to the matter.

We’re still digging around on potential price and other details about how advanced the deal is. But as mobile becomes the latest battleground in the Internet’s game of thrones, you can see how such a deal could make sense.”

So what would Facebook want with WhatsApp? Well, there are a number of reasons why the deal makes sense. For one, WhatsApp has some pretty impressive stats. Back in August, it announced that the service was serving 10 billion messages on a daily basis. And it’s particularly popular on iOS; currently, it’s #2 in Top Paid apps.

WhatsApp is also in a number of international markets. It has users in over a hundred countries, on over 700 networks, and is on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia S40, Symbian and Windows Phone platforms. This would be particularly appealing to Facebook, who, as Zuckerberg told Businessweek, is honing in on the mobile space.

But there’s also a few reasons why the deal could go south, most notably WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum’s public disdain for using ads as a source of revenue: “Advertising isn’t just the disruption of aesthetics, the insults to your intelligence and the interruption of your train of thought.” Obviously, Facebook feels much differently.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds. If Facebook ends up acquiring WhatsApp, does it shut it down and roll it into its Facebook Messenger service, or does it keep operating it independently like it’s currently doing with Instagram? It’s hard to see the shut-down scenario happening, considering how popular it is. But you never know.

What do you think of the idea of Facebook acquiring WhatsApp? Good idea/bad idea?

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Why don’t Facebook buy over google. Just because you have money, doesn’t mean you can do whatever they want. Although it seems to be a good deal for both parties but to us, this sucks

imot65

FU Zuck!

jawadahsen

isnt facebook already not disrupting enough privacy? fuck!!

http://twitter.com/leothelion96 Leonard Wong

Someone should buy Facebook , so they could stop acquire any company

http://twitter.com/patrickw1995 Patrick

the person that made the app doesnt have to say yes to the deal anyways

pawfyd

Even though it would be horrible for the app, I as the creator of it would say yes immediately when asked. It’s about the money, not about the quailty. Everyone knows Facebook sucks, but they can pay good to get what they want.

http://www.facebook.com/living4angel Pankaj Rana

Facebook is already giving our private information to others, also a 10 year old kid can hack any facebook account easily by few steps… Whats app is the best communication app today n we dont want to give our private photos n videos to some random advertisement company, to use it on any condom ads 😛 :D.. Even though, WHAT’S APP is better than FB..

http://twitter.com/AmpxMC Amp

Oh god no

http://twitter.com/wonggt Oliver Wong

No… just no…… facebook literally messes everything up… just fuck off

http://twitter.com/_Balushi_ Balushi

If Facebook buys WhatsApp, I’ll consider another communication app!

Milo

Just like how Google acquire YouTube

pawfyd

With one difference – Google is a nice company which knows how to roll and do things correctly, Facebook is a mess.

RarestName

They banned several of my personal accounts in one go because of one video that I never got a chance to delete. Very nice indeed.

Zorvage

Apple, please buy FaceBook and shut them down.

http://twitter.com/Gehim Rehan Ahmed

Correction please, the TechCrunch article mentions that WhatsApp serves a total of 1 Billion messages per day, not the 10 Billion mentioned in this one. @melvco

Ff123

Please No.. I dont want whatsapp to sync my photos online lol or to get sponsered pages ads to Like them while using whatsapp :@